‘Corporate Computing’ relates how the local Univac division created a large-scale industry in the state, employing 10,000 people by the 1960s and developing networking technologies for the U.S. navy ...
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‘Corporate Computing’ relates how the local Univac division created a large-scale industry in the state, employing 10,000 people by the 1960s and developing networking technologies for the U.S. navy and air-traffic control, and working a ‘quality revolution’ that paved the way for the semiconductor industry to achieve “Moore’s Law” improvements.Less

Corporate Computing : Univac Creates a High-Tech Minnesota Industry

Thomas J. Misa

Published in print: 2013-10-01

‘Corporate Computing’ relates how the local Univac division created a large-scale industry in the state, employing 10,000 people by the 1960s and developing networking technologies for the U.S. navy and air-traffic control, and working a ‘quality revolution’ that paved the way for the semiconductor industry to achieve “Moore’s Law” improvements.

Digital State tells the long overdue history of Minnesota’s world famous computer industry. The book profiles each of the most notable Minnesota companies, beginning with the founding of the ...
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Digital State tells the long overdue history of Minnesota’s world famous computer industry. The book profiles each of the most notable Minnesota companies, beginning with the founding of the Engineering Research Associates (in St. Paul) in 1946. Univac was a local successor to ERA, while Control Data was a spinoff that became a billion dollar a year concern by the 1960s. Honeywell was the state’s largest private sector employer, and IBM Rochester was a prominent outpost of that global company. The book is based on archival records of ERA, Control Data, and Univac and draws extensively on 60-plus oral histories collected at the Charles Babbage Institute as well as interviews done by the author. The book’s two final chapters consider how Minnesota embraced the coming of the “information economy” with assessments of its changing workforce and activities of prominent institutions (such as the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, the University of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium). A unique firm-level dataset of nearly 250 Minnesota computer companies (1980-2011) anatomizes significant connections between the computing industry and today’s medical device industry. The “industrial district” concept used in the book meaningfully ties together the company case studies as well as has direct implications for the state’s economic development strategy. There is no other book that tells the history (1940s–today) of Minnesota’s computer industry and high tech economy.Less

Digital State : The Story of Minnesota's Computing Industry

Thomas J. Misa

Published in print: 2013-10-01

Digital State tells the long overdue history of Minnesota’s world famous computer industry. The book profiles each of the most notable Minnesota companies, beginning with the founding of the Engineering Research Associates (in St. Paul) in 1946. Univac was a local successor to ERA, while Control Data was a spinoff that became a billion dollar a year concern by the 1960s. Honeywell was the state’s largest private sector employer, and IBM Rochester was a prominent outpost of that global company. The book is based on archival records of ERA, Control Data, and Univac and draws extensively on 60-plus oral histories collected at the Charles Babbage Institute as well as interviews done by the author. The book’s two final chapters consider how Minnesota embraced the coming of the “information economy” with assessments of its changing workforce and activities of prominent institutions (such as the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, the University of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium). A unique firm-level dataset of nearly 250 Minnesota computer companies (1980-2011) anatomizes significant connections between the computing industry and today’s medical device industry. The “industrial district” concept used in the book meaningfully ties together the company case studies as well as has direct implications for the state’s economic development strategy. There is no other book that tells the history (1940s–today) of Minnesota’s computer industry and high tech economy.

‘Innovation Machine’ presents the best available account of Control Data, a pivotal company active in supercomputing, computer services, and social vision. Assessments of computer guru Seymour Cray ...
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‘Innovation Machine’ presents the best available account of Control Data, a pivotal company active in supercomputing, computer services, and social vision. Assessments of computer guru Seymour Cray and business leader Bill Norris.Less

Innovation Machine : Control Data’s Supercomputers, Services, and Social Vision

Thomas J. Misa

Published in print: 2013-10-01

‘Innovation Machine’ presents the best available account of Control Data, a pivotal company active in supercomputing, computer services, and social vision. Assessments of computer guru Seymour Cray and business leader Bill Norris.

‘St. Paul Start Up’ locates the pioneering Engineering Research Associates company in the Midway industrial district, which gave it the talent and special skills to succeed in building an early ...
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‘St. Paul Start Up’ locates the pioneering Engineering Research Associates company in the Midway industrial district, which gave it the talent and special skills to succeed in building an early digital computer.Less

Thomas J. Misa

Published in print: 2013-10-01

‘St. Paul Start Up’ locates the pioneering Engineering Research Associates company in the Midway industrial district, which gave it the talent and special skills to succeed in building an early digital computer.

‘First Computer’ surveys Honeywell’s varied efforts in computing (including educational computing). Chapter presents the best available account of the landmark federal legal case Honeywell v. Sperry Rand (1971-73) that defined ‘who invented the first computer’. An account of the local Honeywell Project, the anti-military protesters who sought to convert Honeywell to civilian markets.Less

First Computer : Honeywell, Partnerships, and the Politics of Patents

Thomas J. Misa

Published in print: 2013-10-01

‘First Computer’ surveys Honeywell’s varied efforts in computing (including educational computing). Chapter presents the best available account of the landmark federal legal case Honeywell v. Sperry Rand (1971-73) that defined ‘who invented the first computer’. An account of the local Honeywell Project, the anti-military protesters who sought to convert Honeywell to civilian markets.

Introduction sets the stage, explaining with the commercial, agricultural, and industrial development of the state (1850s–1940s). It also introduces the “industrial district” concept and gives a ...
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Introduction sets the stage, explaining with the commercial, agricultural, and industrial development of the state (1850s–1940s). It also introduces the “industrial district” concept and gives a summary of the book.Less

Minnesota Goes High-Tech

Thomas J. Misa

Published in print: 2013-10-01

Introduction sets the stage, explaining with the commercial, agricultural, and industrial development of the state (1850s–1940s). It also introduces the “industrial district” concept and gives a summary of the book.

‘Big Blue’ offers a Rochester-centered perspective on the world’s leading computer company for many decades: IBM. IBM-Rochester engineered and manufactured notable computer systems (from its AS/400 ...
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‘Big Blue’ offers a Rochester-centered perspective on the world’s leading computer company for many decades: IBM. IBM-Rochester engineered and manufactured notable computer systems (from its AS/400 line of mid-range computers ranging to the top-of-the line Blue Gene supercomputer, the world’s fastest for 3 ó years).Less

Big Blue : Manufacturing and Innovation at IBM Rochester

Thomas J. Misa

Published in print: 2013-10-01

‘Big Blue’ offers a Rochester-centered perspective on the world’s leading computer company for many decades: IBM. IBM-Rochester engineered and manufactured notable computer systems (from its AS/400 line of mid-range computers ranging to the top-of-the line Blue Gene supercomputer, the world’s fastest for 3 ó years).